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We're calling it: we've reached the 12-month countdown to a new Porsche 911.

How do we know? A classic endgame has begun. Every six years or so, Porsche exhausts its 911 recipe box and runs out of special editions. Over the past few years, the 911 has been spun off into GT2 and GT3 editions, and in Paris earlier this fall, the Speedster made a cameo on an auto-show turntable.

What possible mix-and-match magic remains in the 911's bag? That would be the 2011 GTS.

The finale for the current-generation 911, the GTS blazes into the Porsche retail experience in the middle of this winter, with a Cabriolet roof or one made out of metal and stuff. Since we're allergic to snow, we took up Porsche on their invitation to fly to Palm Springs, to hurtle across the high desert to Borrego Springs and back in both versions of the ultimate 911.

With a few hours of rest and reflection, we're ready to tell you everthing we know about the GTS, and at this point in a 15-hour day, probably everything about missile defense systems and the TSA's new philosophy on junk-touching. But we'll focus for a few hundred words on this, the last 911. Behind its fuzzy Alcantara wheel, we hit dizzying speeds, streaked through palm canyons and lemon groves, and cut a 100-mph-plus groove into dusty, desiccated pavement.

We proved that we can multitask, too, since we also rekindled all the admiration for the 911 we've ever felt. The GTS buffs the 911's perma-luster, with a corresponding jump in sticker price.